Video Editing with MoviePy: A Comprehensive Python Guide¶

Introduction¶

MoviePy is a Python library designed for video editing and creation. It provides a simple and intuitive interface for:

  • Video cutting and concatenation
  • Adding text, images, and audio
  • Applying video effects and transitions
  • Creating animated GIFs
  • Basic video composition and editing

Installation & Setup¶

  1. Install MoviePy and its dependencies:

pip install moviepy The moviepy.editor has been removed from moviepy since its 2.0 version

So for old moviepy run command: pip install moviepy==1.0.3 pip install imagemagick

  1. Import required modules:
In [8]:
from moviepy.editor import *
import moviepy.config as mpy_config
mpy_config.IMAGEMAGICK_BINARY = r"C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-7.1.1-Q16-HDRI\magick.exe"

Key Features & Examples¶

Here is the basic folder structure for video editing¶

image.png

1. Basic Video Operations¶

In [11]:
def cliping(input_path, output_path):

    vid = VideoFileClip(input_path)
    
    clip = vid.subclip(0, 10)
    
    clip.write_videofile(output_path)
    
    vid.close()
    clip.close()
inputpath = "test.mp4"
outputpath = "test1.mp4"
cliping(inputpath, outputpath)

Moviepy - Building video test1.mp4.
MoviePy - Writing audio in test1TEMP_MPY_wvf_snd.mp3

                                                        

MoviePy - Done.
Moviepy - Writing video test1.mp4


                                                               

Moviepy - Done !
Moviepy - video ready test1.mp4

Before:¶

image.png

After:¶

image.png

2. Adding Text Overlays¶

In [13]:
def textadd(videopath, outputpath):

    vid = VideoFileClip(videopath)
    
    txt = TextClip("Hello World!", fontsize=70, color='white')
    txt = txt.set_pos('center').set_duration(vid.duration)
    
    final = CompositeVideoClip([vid, txt])
    
    final.write_videofile(outputpath)
    
    vid.close()
    final.close()
inputpath = "test1.mp4"
outputpath = "out1.mp4"
textadd(inputpath, outputpath)

Moviepy - Building video out1.mp4.
MoviePy - Writing audio in out1TEMP_MPY_wvf_snd.mp3

                                                                    

MoviePy - Done.
Moviepy - Writing video out1.mp4


                                                              

Moviepy - Done !
Moviepy - video ready out1.mp4

Before:¶

image.png

After:¶

image.png

3. Video Effects¶

In [14]:
clip = VideoFileClip("test1.mp4")

bnw = clip.fx(vfx.blackwhite)

fast = bnw.fx(vfx.speedx, 2)

rotated = fast.fx(vfx.rotate, 90)

rotated.write_videofile("rotated.mp4")
clip.close()
bnw.close()

Moviepy - Building video rotated.mp4.
MoviePy - Writing audio in rotatedTEMP_MPY_wvf_snd.mp3

                                                                    

MoviePy - Done.
Moviepy - Writing video rotated.mp4


                                                              

Moviepy - Done !
Moviepy - video ready rotated.mp4

After:¶

image.png

Practical Use Cases for this library¶

1. Content Creation¶

  • YouTube video editing
  • Social media content
  • Educational materials
  • Marketing videos

2. Automation¶

  • Batch processing videos
  • Automated video generation
  • Adding watermarks to multiple videos

3. Data Visualization¶

  • Creating animated graphs
  • Scientific visualization
  • Time-lapse videos

4. Video Analytics¶

  • Frame extraction for analysis
  • Motion detection
  • Video summarization

Example code for editing batch of videos togethor¶

In [ ]:
def editAll (inputpath, outputpath):
    for i in range(100):
        clip = VideoFileClip(inputpath + str(i) + ".mp4").subclip(0, 10)
        bnw = clip.fx(vfx.blackwhite)
        bnw.write_videofile(outputpath + str(i) + ".mp4")

Best Practices¶

  1. Always close your clips to free up memory
  2. Use context managers (with statement) when possible
  3. Process videos in chunks for large files
  4. Handle errors appropriately

Given a template for proper error handling:

In [ ]:
def process(inputpath, outputpath):
    try:
        with VideoFileClip(inputpath) as video:
            
            processed = video.resize(0.5).subclip(0, 10)
            processed.write_videofile(outputpath)
    except IOError as e:
        print(f"Error loading video: {e}")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"An error occurred: {e}")

Conclusion¶

MoviePy is a versatile library that makes video editing in Python accessible and efficient. Key benefits include:

  • Simple and intuitive API
  • Wide range of video editing features
  • Good documentation

References & Further Reading¶

  1. Official MoviePy Documentation
  2. MoviePy GitHub Repository
  3. FFmpeg Documentation
  4. ImageMagick Documentation